Ether Planes opened! All available Planes can now be accessed.
That's a good opportunity to go exploring...

What is this website?

Current news

23.03.2010 - Survived yet again

This time one the RAID disks of my server died... I have restored everything from backups though, so the site works again.

Make backups everyone, you will thank yourself when the need arises to dig them up :)

16.01.2007 - Back from beyond...

After nearly a year, I have finally gotten around to reactivating the site. It was not as much work as I expected, and I am glad it works again.

As I already mentioned earlier, the EtherPlanes are only online as historical reference now - everything works, only the planned update to v2.0 was never finished.

Happy exploring :)

- Planemaster

01.07.2005 - Hacking attack

After the hacking attacks my server was under in the last few days, the site is back up again.

I will keep the Ether Planes running, as a reference for all Etherlords fans and all those that from time to time discover the game in bragain bins - but I will not extend it further.

Who knows, maybe Etherlords III will hit the shelves someday, then I'll be ready to reactivate the Ether Planes :) Until then, the site will live on through your visits.

-Planemaster

18.06.2004 - Etherlords II: given up?

No - at least not in the sense that comes to mind. The interest around the game is almost completely gone - except for a few 'fanatics' and a few new players that just bought the game it has become very quiet around Etherlords I and II.

It should not have happened this fast, and I blame Nival directly for that. Despite the efforts of the Etherlords fan community, map creation is still out of reach for all those that do not have some script programming knowledge. The map editor is a fine thing as such, but the current implementation of the tool can hardly be called an editor in that it lacks essential functionality: selection possibilities for specializations, effects and basic help for vital functions are simply missing. Imho the game could have had a much longer lifespan had the editor been up to the task, especially given the fact that the game ships witout any single player maps.

The reference
I made for the editor has been downloaded about 500 times since it went online, but without programming knowledge even that will not help you much. Even though it contains most of the missing details in the editor, it is still useless for most as you need to add scripts to your map to make it playable. This could have been easily solved with function in the editor that could generate the scripts for simple 'When Hero X is dead, win game' situations, which is what most players need.

I am disappointed, and especially because the game still has so much potential. I will never say that I don't like the game, otherwise I would not have made this website. It's just the frustration in seeing how fast it has been 'dispatched'. This is also the reason I have frozen all further additions to the website for the time being - hoping that someday I will be able to make the map archive, I had planned a lot of cool features for that.

I you'd like to help me bring that project to life, you are welcome to send my your maps or any information on where to find some - if I can manage to find as many as 10 maps, I will build the map archive. I'll post here regularly to keep you posted.

Email me at planemaster@etherlplanes.net with any info!

- Planemaster

31.03.2004 - Ether Planes in three languages!

Thanks to the help of kraken63 who helped me with the translation, the Ether Planes website is now available in a total of three languages: English, german and french. A big hello to the french Etherlords fan community!

- Planemaster

20.03.2004 - Duel Replays database launched

On an idea from K@RN in the official english Etherlords II forum, I have launched the duel replays database. Intended for both novice and confirmed players, this collection of replays can help you get the knack of the game.

The database is still very small (3 replays at the time of writing), but there are pending replays and everyone can contribute his replays by mailing them to replays@etherplanes.net. Required information is as follows:

And there is still more to come: as some already know, Viral is currently working on a script tutorial that will be included in the reference - so if that does not make your map editing finger twitch...

- Planemaster

07.03.2004 - Spell Archive complete!

It is done - the whole Etherlords II spell archive is now available online via the Spell Explorer
. In a big effort during the weekend, I completed the Kinets, Chaosians and Synthets spells collection.

Those who have not checked the new Spell Explorer
should take a look now - the Etherlords II spell archive now features cross-references between creatures of the same race, as well as creature images.

The first version of the Etherlords II Map Editor Reference
is available for download - this EtherPlanes project aims to make map editing for EL2 a little easier by offering a revamped script function reference in Windows HTML Help Format (.chm), as well as several resources like specializations, skills and spells lists.

Please contribute any ideas or insights you may have on using the editor, we will integrate them into the reference with due credit!

- Planemaster

18.02.2004 - Ether Planes goes international!

As you have undoubtedly noticed, the Ether Planes are now availabe in Sheakespeare's favourite language, with a new domain and a faster server.

But that's not all - there are many new Planes to explore, and I highly recommend a look at the Spell Explorer
, which has already archived 193 EL2 spells.

Also, because of the change, some sections do not work yet, like the registration. I'm still working on the new features for this too, so it may yet take a little time.

In the meantime, have fun!

- Planemaster

Caution!
Browser: The Ether Planes have only been tested with Internet Explorer v5.5+,
Mozilla v1.4+, Netscape v6+ and Opera v7+. Any other browser may lead to errors
or disable the site's functionality completely.